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The most important lesson my mentor ever taught me: We went to a client to work on Problem X. He quickly determined that solving Problem X would achieve nothi

by edw519 17y ago

The most important lesson my mentor ever taught me: We went to a client to work on Problem X. He quickly determined that solving Problem X would achieve nothing. Problem Y was the real problem, but was way outside our areas of expertise. So what did he do? He slept 4 hours a night for the next 2 weeks studying everything he could find about Problem Y. He reviewed reports, industry literature, called experts, and talked to as many people in the company who knew anything about that subject area. Within 2 weeks, he presented a brilliant solution that no one had ever considered but was instantly understandable by their experts. (That solution included work done by us and we had a great client relationship for years.) Later, I asked him why he tried to accomplish something so difficult with such a seemingly tiny possibility of success. I'll never forget his reply... "I didn't know that I couldn't do it, so I did it."

neilk 17y ago
It's a charming anecdote, but don't take this as a story of individual brilliance. Read it as faith and perseverance triumphing over doubt, and conquering problems with appropriately applied work. Note the crucial elements. He talked to a lot of experts in field Y. This is not a "lone genius"! He had the freedom and incentives to work on this almost uninterrupted. He would have spent at least 100 hours, which is worth at least as much as two undergraduate courses. Also, he was an expert in related field X, which must have helped. Furthermore, he because he knew the practical problem, he could cut down the search space. He didn't have to investigate everything about field Y, just stuff applicable to him. If you consider all that, the solution doesn't look so miraculous. What's more interesting to me is that I think even ordinary people could be achieving that kind of result all the time if they had the right background, incentives, and support.

by edw519 17y ago

neilk 17y ago

It's a charming anecdote, but don't take this as a story of individual brilliance. Read it as faith and perseverance triumphing over doubt, and conquering problems with appropriately applied work. Note the crucial elements. He talked to a lot of experts in field Y. This is not a "lone genius"! He had the freedom and incentives to work on this almost uninterrupted. He would have spent at least 100 hours, which is worth at least as much as two undergraduate courses. Also, he was an expert in related field X, which must have helped. Furthermore, he because he knew the practical problem, he could cut down the search space. He didn't have to investigate everything about field Y, just stuff applicable to him. If you consider all that, the solution doesn't look so miraculous. What's more interesting to me is that I think even ordinary people could be achieving that kind of result all the time if they had the right background, incentives, and support.